Baby bottles: New EFSA statement on bisphenol-A

Environmental- and health organisations criticise EFSA's stand on bisphenol-A

30.10.2008 | HEAL newsletter

New EFSA statement on bisphenol A

Further to a request by the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) provided an analysis of the implications to the hazard and risk assessment of bisphenol A (BPA) of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on 16 September (Lang et al., 2008), correlating urinary BPA concentrations to medical disorders in adults.

EFSA concluded that this single study does not provide sufficient proof for a causal link between exposure to BPA and the health conditions mentioned in the study, i.e. heart disease, diabetes and elevated liver-enzyme activities.

Friends of the Earth (FoE) Europe have already criticised EFSA’s stand on bisphenol A before, saying that the EFSA is ignoring more than 180 studies showing the adverse effects of low dose exposure of BPA on rats.

A recent report entitled Blissfully unaware of BPA by FoE Europe documents that bisphenol A, which is found in consumer goods such as baby bottles, plastic microwave food containers and canned food linings, has proven links with a wide range of health disorders from infertility, breast cancer and prostate cancer, to thyroid malfunction, attention deficit syndrome and recurrent miscarriage.

The new EFSA statement can be found here.

FoE Europe publications:

Bisphenol A in plastics: is it making us sick? A consumer guide to Bisphenol A. Joint publication of FoE Europe and HEAL.
Blissfully unaware of Bisphenol A: Reasons why regulators should live up to their responsibilities: A comprehensive review of the scientific knowledge available regarding controversial Bisphenol A

More information:

To learn more about endocrine disrupting chemicals and their possible role in the development of breast cancer, please read following reports:
- “Breast cancer and exposure to hormonally active chemicals: An appraisal of the scientific evidence”.
- “Factors influencing the risk of breast cancer - established and emerging”.
To learn more about chemicals and disease, please visit Chemicals Health Monitor website - section “Diseases and Chemicals”.

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